Rik Mayall's football anthem Noble England is being pushed up the charts by campaigns on Facebook and Twitter. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

A World Cup song recorded by Rik Mayall is set to enter the official singles chart this week as fans seek to pay tribute to the performer following his death on Monday.

The song, Noble England, has already reached No 3 in Apple's iTunes music chart on Wednesday evening and is in the Official Charts Company's midweek top 40. The death of the former Young Ones and Blackadder star prompted an organised campaign on social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter to push the song up the rankings.

It was supported by Jon Morter, who also led the campaign to get Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name to the 2009 Christmas No 1 spot, ahead of the debut single from that year's X Factor winner Joe McElderry.

Morter told BBC Radio 5 Live's Breakfast: "We're just big fans and we really want to give him a great send off."

Noble England, the lyrics of which come from Shakespeare's Henry V, was originally released for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but failed to chart.

The Official Charts Company said it expected the "lost" song, which is currently at No 38 in its chart, to "shoot up as the week continues".

When the song was originally released, Mayall said: "Football chants are one of the great traditions of following football and Shakespeare is also part of our national heritage. It seemed only natural that they should go together.

"I'm doing my bit, just like every other Englishman, as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, doing our bit, stiff upper-lip – apart from when you're screaming out the lyrics to Noble England."

In a break with recent custom, England has no official anthem for the World Cup. A song recorded by Gary Barlow and featuring the vocal talents of Michael Owen, among others, was dropped as the official anthem.

Mayall, who was 56 when he died, previously had chart success when, as part of the Young Ones cast, he appeared with Sir Cliff Richard for a re-recorded version of the latter's 1959 song Living Doll in aid of Comic Relief. The single spent three weeks at No 1 in the official chart in 1986.

A post-mortem into Mayall's sudden death is expected to be carried out on Thursday, west London coroners' court said.

Mayall, who died at his home in south-west London, found fame playing poetry-writing anarchist Rick in The Young Ones, alongside Adrian Edmondson. The pair also appeared together in Bottom.